TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018
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RESTAURANT REVIEW IT’S A SOUTHERN THING Greg Cox for Triangle Today
You walk in, and immediately your eye starts ricocheting around the sprawling converted second floor warehouse space that became home to It’s a Southern Thing last September. To your left, vivid red B – A – R block letter marquee lights hang at a 45-degree angle over a patina-streaked copper bar. To your right, large vintage black and white photos of downtown Durham span a lilac colored wall. There’s a longhorn steer skull on a rough plank sliding door that you’re guessing leads to a separate dining room. And could that be — why yes, it is — a disc golf basket mounted on the wall near the open kitchen window. Quirky? Absolutely. Random? Absolutely not. Virtually everything you see is a tangible manifestation of the life and culinary career of Pete Susca, the restaurant’s owner. Susca, a native of New Jersey, relocated with his family some 20 years ago to the Triangle, where he helped his parents open and run La Russa’s Italian Delicatessen in Chapel Hill. In the two decades since, he has worked in a number of restaurants, most recently as bar manager at Motto, the previous tenant in the space where he opened It’s a Southern Thing. He kept the B – A – R sign from that restaurant as a souvenir.
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Judging by the food he has chosen to serve at his first restaurant, Susca has fully embraced his adopted home. Inspired by classic Southern cuisine, he envisioned a fresh take on the repertoire — everything from fried green tomatoes with local goat cheese and charred tomato-bacon jam to shrimp and grits with homemade andouille sausage — with an emphasis on local produce. To put that vision on the plate, Susca chose chef Matt Kulp. Which is where that disc golf basket comes in. An avid disc golfer, Susca met Kulp while playing the game several years ago. “Matt was an IT guy back then,” Susca says. “I got him into cooking.” In the years since, Kulp went on to work at Zely & Ritz, Garland, and most recently, McCormick & Schmick’s. Low country crab dip, served hot under a blanket of oven-blistered aged white cheddar and accompanied by plenty of warm pita points for dipping, is a deservedly popular starter. So are charred jalapeño and sweet corn hushpuppies, though these can occasionally be a bit underdone in the center. Peel ’n’ eat shrimp, steamed in Old Bay-seasoned shrimp court bouillon, are another winning option. Read more at triangletoday.com.
Don Ricardo Massenburg Jr. Design Inkredible, Durham
The smoked wings at It’s a Southern Thing take the first course prize. Fried to order and given a quick dip in a vinegar-based Carolina style barbecue sauce, these come out fat, smoky and juicy beneath a crisp skin .Juli Leonard
It’s a Southern Thing 605 W. Main St., Durham 919-294-9632 itsasouthernthingdurham.com Cuisine: contemporary Southern Rating: 3 stars Prices: $$ Atmosphere: wildly eclectic
NOMINATE AN INCREDIBLE DESIGNER! We at Triangle Today have partnered with Renewal by Andersen to highlight the work of talented local interior designers. Have you worked with a designer who did a fabulous job on your home project? Do you have a family member who’s a fabulous Triangle interior designer? Are you an experienced professional with a portfolio of beautiful spaces? Go to nando.com/toasttheexpert to suggest a professional designer for us to feature.